The San Jose State Spartans women's basketball team represents

San José State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State Universit ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

as a member of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

History

The women's basketball program at San Jose State University, then San Jose Normal School, began in 1895. By 1968, San Jose State College established its first intercollegiate-sponsored women's basketball team that became formally established in the 1971–72 season with the

Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

.2015-16 media guide
p. 78. Carolyn Lewis became head coach at San Jose State in 1974. In 1975, the women's basketball program offered its first scholarship. Sharon Chatman succeeded Lewis as head coach in 1976, the year the team joined the NorCal Conference. In Chatman's 10 seasons as head coach, she compiled a 143–121 record and led the Spartans to NorCal championships in 1978 and 1979 and the

AIAW women's basketball tournament The AIAW women's basketball tournament was a national tournament for women's collegiate basketball teams in the United States, held annually from 1972 to 1982. The winners of the AIAW tournaments from 1972 to 1981 are recognized as the national ...

every year from 1978 to 1981. In 1982, San Jose State women's athletics programs moved from the AIAW to the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA), and the women's basketball team moved from the NorCal Conference to the NorPac Conference. Chatman posted losing records during each of her final three seasons (1983–1986), and the team continued to post losing records throughout the six-season tenure of Tina Krah from 1986 to 1992 and coach Karen Smith's first season in 1992–93. Krah was 17–143 as head coach. San Jose State women's basketball joined the

men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

program in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

) in 1986, Krah's first season. In 1993–94, Karen Smith led the Spartans to their first winning season since 1982–83. This would be the only winning season in Karen Smith's tenure, during which San Jose State moved from the Big West to the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

in 1996. Janice Richard replaced Smith in 1999, and the Spartans' next winning season would be in 2001–02 with a 17–11 record. Richard also led the Spartans to two straight winning seasons in 2004 and 2005. Lamisha Augustine became the first San Jose State women's basketball player drafted to the WNBA in April 2006, when the

Sacramento Monarchs The Sacramento Monarchs were a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009. They played their home games at ARCO Aren ...

selected Augustine in the third round of the 2006 WNBA draft. In August 2006, Richard took a medical leave of absence to seek treatment for breast cancer. Assistant coaches Greg Lockridge and Derrick Allen served as interim head coaches for the 2006–07 season, a season in which the Spartans fell from 13–15 the previous season to 5–27. Lockridge was head coach for the first six games (posting an 0–6 record), and Allen took over for the last 21 games (going 5–21). The university placed Lockridge on paid administrative leave on November 30, 2006, a week after a ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' report that leading scorer Amber Jackson transferred after "difficulty in dealing with" Lockridge. In April 2007, San Jose State hired former

Lynn University Lynn University is a private university in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. Founded in 1962, the university awards Associate degree, associate, Bachelor's degree, baccalaureate, Master's degree, master's, and Doctorate, doctoral Academic degr ...

head coach Pam DeCosta as the Spartans' head coach. DeCosta served as head coach for four seasons, during which she posted a 13–106 record.2014-15 media guide, p. 68. Tim La Kose became the women's basketball head coach in April 2011 after ten seasons as head coach at

Cal State Bakersfield California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Ba ...

. Under La Kose, the Spartans improved to 11–19 in 2011–12, following a 2–27 season. The Spartans had another 11–19 season in 2012–13, their final season in the WAC. San Jose State athletics programs joined the

on July 1, 2013. On August 30, 2013, during the first week of the fall semester, La Kose resigned, citing personal reasons. Athletic director Gene Bleymaier hired Sacramento State head coach Jamie Craighead on September 16, to replace La Kose. San Jose State had its third straight 11–19 (5–13 MWC) season under Craighead in 2013–14. In Craighead's second season, the team improved to 15–17 (7–11 MWC). Entering the Mountain West Conference women's basketball tournament as the #8 seed, San Jose State made the semifinals by upsetting #1 Colorado State in the second round. This marked the first time in tournament history the #8 seed beat the #1 seed. On January 21, 2015, Ta'rea Cunnigan broke the San Jose State career scoring record previously set by Ricky Berry (1,768 in 1988). Cunnigan ended her career with 2,062 points.

All-time record vs. current Mountain West teams

As of the conclusion of the

2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began on November 6, 2023. The regular season ended on March 17, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament beginning on March 20 and ended with the 2024 NCAA Division ...

Head Coaches

As of the conclusion of the

: *Greg Lockridge was an interim coach (0–6) during part of the 2006–07 season, Derrick Allen was the interim coach (5–21) for the remainder of the 2006–07 season.

Conference affiliations

* AIAW Independent (1974–1976) * Northern California Athletic Conference (1976–1982) * NorPac Conference (1982–1986) * Pacific Coast Athletic Association/Big West Conference (1986–1996) *

(1996–2013) *

(2013–present)

References

External links

* {{Mountain West Conference women's basketball navbox